Antimalarial Activity Of Ginseng Polysaccharides And Bulgaria Inquinans Polysaccharides

Malaria is still one of the major health problems in the world. Multi-drug resistance is one of the most important problems in malaria control over the years. In recent years, the situation is worsened with the emergence of chloroquine- resistant Plasmodium falciparum, and its spread has stimulated the development of new effective treatments against malaria. The present work was to investigate the effects of ginseng polysaccharides and artesunate-polysaccharides on the antimalarial activity, the effect of ginseng polysaccharides (GP) and Bulgaria inquinans polysaccharides (BP) on protective immunity in mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii.In vivo, a combination of artesunate with polysaccharides showed potent synergy. Mice given the mixture of artesunate and GP orally showed higher cure rate(77.11%) than active addition of artesunate and GP(12.96% + 57.21%). Simultaneously, mice given the mixture of artesunate and BP orally showed higher cure rate (89.85%) than active addition of artesunate and BP (17.36% + 58.59%).GP exhibited no detectable cure activity on malarial. But it was obvious of the effect of GP and BP on preservation activity in mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii. After the treatment groups were gavaged with the GP , 100mgGP/kg body weight for six days, the percentage chemosuppression of malaria was maximum (18.73%); while the maximum percentage chemosuppression was 46.21% with BP, when the mice were fed orally for 8 days. Meanwhile, at the doses of 200mg/kg, GP's maximum percentage chemosuppression was 19.17% when the mice were fed orally for 6 days; while the maximum percentage chemosuppression was 28.50% to BP when the mice were fed orally for 8days.GP and BP augmented the percentage of phagocytosis of chicken blood by macrophages. These results indicated that the increased capability of macrophages by GP and BP play an important role in host defense against malaria infection in mice.The present work showed the effect of BP on protective immunity in mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii was higher than GP, meanwhile the synergism of artesunate plus BP was stronger than artesunate plus GP.